Connecticut-based Hamden Rovers builds ‘first-rate’ barber shop at Sunbeam Boys Home

This time it’s the Connecticut-based charity club Hamden Rovers Inc. that has added its name to the long list of supporters who have made a positive difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable boys in Jamaica.

Over $600,000 was recently invested in building a “first-rate” barber saloon which will save the care home approximately $40,000 monthly for just grooming the boys.

“Everything that is in that space (barber shop), the Hamden Rovers team with its members, outfitted to reflect a barber shop that the community could use and the investment we hope is something that is sustainable,” said Robert Tullonge, president of Hamden Rovers, an institution that began as a soccer club for over-40 men before its present day evolution as a United States registered non-profit organization.

“We want to eliminate or significantly reduce that bill,” Tullonge added. “Then we want the community to have access to a first-rate barber shop.”

Desmond Whitley, general manager of Sunbeam Boys Home, says the hair saloon has given the wards a sense of dignity.

“In my view it is the sociology of it that I find to be of greatest importance. That the boys feel that at their own home they have a first-class facility,” Whitley said in an interview with Old Harbour News.

Having such a facility operating at its base, plans are afoot to engage HEART Trust/NTA to train boys who have expressed an interest to become professional barbers in the future, Whitley added.

“The exposure to barbering is a stimulation of interest. Boys tend to be late in blooming, but here is an option, a career that you can pursue. And so for those who show interest the plan is to have them train in barbering,” he said.

And with the wards becoming expert barbers themselves, the long term goal is to make the facility accessible to the community and generate income for the boys and the home as well.

“Cutting a boy’s hair now is about $500 per child, and so the idea is among our staff and boys, if we train our boys, then our boys can become our own barbers,” explained Whitley.

Established more than 40 years ago, the Sunbeam Boys Home has been beacon of hope for some of the most at-risk youth in Jamaica. While the home has been instrumental in transforming the lives of hundreds of boys, much has been invested in creating a self-sustaining home through various initiatives such as farming and entrepreneurism.